Battery life can vary. Age -- shelf life -- is the most likely culprit. It's the age of the batteries; they're most likely much older than the box they were installed in. Since this is a 486 system, and the assembled box may have sat for some time before you got it, I'd say your 2 years is about right, depending on what kind of batteries -- most likely lithium -- they are. Assuming the box's fan is working -- and you'd see other problems before -- heat should not be your biggest problem. Heat during transport is another matter. Batteries are an instance of getting what you pay for. An example to illustrate is 35mm film. Camera stores often have drastically reduced prices on major label film -- many times this is actually GREY MARKET stuff. Kodak, say, makes film in New York, a reseller ships several thousand rolls to Europe. They resell a few thousand rolls left to another reseller in Asia. This guy has, say 1000 rolls, that he sells to a mailorder house in the U.S. THe mail order place gets a great deal because the film is nearing an experation date, and the Asian dealer could make money on a currency transaction alone. You buy the film in the U.S., it was manufactured here, should be fresh -- but you have no idea what kind of care it got shipped around the world by various people. In these days of global commerce, products with special handeling needs and limited life span could suffer improper handeling. Fortunately, most computer parts are pretty robust, and even batteries are good for several years. Regards, Jim Griffin [log in to unmask] wrote: > > I have had this 486DX-120 for about 2 years (running W95). In the last 2 > weeks, the clock has been rapidly losing time (I keep re-setting it). I guess > that means I need to change my battery. Question: Shouldn't a battery last > longer than this? Could there be anything else causing this problem? Thanks > > Phillip Haveard > [log in to unmask] > -- Prometheus was the first Beta Tester. Sisyphus was the Corinthian Systems Administrator. Need help with PCBUILD: [log in to unmask] or http://nospin.com